In favour of fistfights

According to a recently done Gallup one in five did feel that the threat from Russia has increased and young people less likely saw Russia as a threat than older people do. This survey was of course done before last week's controversial speech in Washington by Defence Minister Jyri Häkämies, in which he said that Russia was the greatest challenge to Finnish security.

Yesterday the Russians finally expressed their puzzlement publicly in the media about the speech in question, they were wondering if the Finns were to change their policies as they now consider Russia being a safety threat. The word used in minister Häkämies speech was in Finnish challenge but was translated into threat in Russian.

The Finnish defence minister was this morning interviewed on morning TV and answered some questions that had been sent in by the audience. One thing was sure, the defence minister is standing for what ha has said that there is no one else to blame as he kept repeating the same meaning over and over with changing the words. Well that is quite brave and straightforward, but as a representative of a whole country and all its’ citizens one might think a bit more about what to say, when to say it and where to say it. When answering to the question whether he would have kept the same speech in Moscow the answer was a non-committal one, simply with that it is entirely another issue, what he would say there, but he kept on repeating that it was his responsibility and no one else’s.

The defence minister is later this week to meet with the president when he might get slapped on his wrist for being a bad boy, maybe even told to be resigned, but then politician have survived through big lies and cover-ups instead of speaking their honest, true mind, which is refreshing as a change.

Anyway, today is 11^th September and 6 years since the World Trade Centre in New York came down and Osama bin-Laden is expected to release his latest video speech today, the second in one weeks’ time if it is true together with the legacy of one of the terrorists participating in the hi-jackings of the planes back then.

I remember when it happened, I was at home and as there had been a power cut earlier so our bedroom TV-set switched itself on automatically, as old ones used to do, and there it was, the collapse of the twin towers. I can only try to imagine the terror and fear of the trapped people when realizing there is no way out of the burning building, to know that you are going to die or the desperation that caused people to jump out of the windows high up from the buildings.

I have to get back to this thing about killing innocent people, what is the sense in killing mere by-standers, people that have no say in matters of state, that count as nothing. Why? It does not change things to the better, only for the worse.

Why not revive and old tradition instead, let the politicians themselves fight their wars when they disagree upon things, leave them alone in a boxing ring until no one stands, fighting fist to fist to the end. At least that would make good TV broadcasting the fist fights and it would fair on all us others, no one innocent would get hurt.